A woman with multiple felonies had access to County funds, resources, and administration?
Charged with theft… funny how that works.

Both of these people were “served” a summons for multiple felony charges. Most people would be arrested and have to post a bond to guarantee their appearance before the court. Why is this so different?

One more leech caught sucking on the American taxpayer.
In 2015, the average American was shaken down for more money in taxes than in food, clothing and housing combined.
Source… http://www.againstcronycapitalism.org/2016/01/america-will-spend-more-on-taxes-than-food-clothing-and-housing-combined-graphic/
We would be wise to do a complete reset of the voracious monster that the government has become. The government at all levels has become a virus bent on killing its host (the average American).

Before hiring a government employee, do they look at their personal finances, i.e. any civil judgments against them?

And why aren’t they bonded? Everybody should be bonded if they handle money. Otherwise the money is either hidden and/or spent on luxuries like vacations, etc.

To Aggrieved Party, the statement, “Thankfully we have a Treasurer who is not intimidated or motivated to sweep such problems under the rug for the sake of expediency,” is ridiculous. I would say, how pathetic is it that we have a Treasurer with no controls in place to protect taxpayer monies from such employees? How pathetic that hiring practices and monitoring of employee activities were not adequate. The problem should never have been allowed to occur in the first place. Being a cheerleader for Ms. McIntyre after-the-fact should fall on deaf ears. I think we are smarter than Aggrieved Party gives us credit for.

To Aggrieved Party:

To state that Ms. McIntyre is standing up, not being intimidated and doing the right thing, seems to be based on the assumption that she had those pressures, or at minimum had the opportunity to as you say “sweep it under the rug”.

In fact Ms. McIntyre did not have that option, Ada County Employee Handbook page 17 Anti-Fraud; requires any report of fraud to be thoroughly investigated and appropriate resolution measures implemented.

So I am willing to say that Ms. McIntyre did the right thing, I am even willing to thank her for doing the right thing, but not so sure it was courageous as opposed to being required and expected. We should not label basic expectations of our leaders as courageous and bold when they deliver what they are supposed to do.

Note to Ada County: it is concerning that any reported fraud only needs to be investigated and resolved by at minimum a supervisor according to the manual. I am not sure all supervisors have adequate training to really identify and quantify fraud, especially when a lot of fraud can be complex, and what is discovered might only be the tip of a larger issue. I think it is a best practice that any possible fraud is also reported to the Police to bring in the expertise of an investigator. Suggest your employee manual be updated and require possible fraud to be reported to police.

JJ,
I didn’t describe Ms. McIntire’s actions as courageous but it isn’t a bad analogy. I agree with you that doing the “right thing” should be a given.

With that said, if I had a nickel for every “should have never happened because the employee handbook prohibits or demands it” I would have at least enough to afford an extra hour of parking at the Ada County Court House.

Your comment and knowledge about a “public soap opera feud” seems to answer your own question as to whether or not the Treasurer has been subjected to extraordinary internal political “pressure” within the County family of elected public servants. The reality that further “bad press” could attend any new investigation can be enough to leave anyone a bit “gun shy” of actively prosecuting an inquiry into the potential bad acts of a person serving under anyone.

If Ms. McIntire had not initiated the investigation who would have? The “do nothing and hope the dead won’t complain option” was NOT Ms. McIntire’s understanding of her job description.
Good for her.

As for not wanting to hear more about perceived “dysfunction” in our government both local and national my only advice is blow up your TV, drown your smart phone, use your computer for target practice and buy a car without a radio.

If that doesn’t work earplugs and blinders might grant you some relief.
I learned long ago that one thing in life I really don’t like is slamming my fingers in the car door.

I have never let this happen again since the first time it happened.

The fact that we aren’t going to eliminate all sources of information from reaching us means at some level we all may actually be enjoying the pain which our public soap opera brings to us.

The next time you find your fingers clutching your smart phone, tickling your keyboard or reading the Guardian, remember who it is that is really in control of your likes and dislikes.

jj,
Having personally dealt with the majority of all persons and personalities involved in the Treasurer/BOCC dustup, I can unequivocally state that my dealings with some of these folks degraded almost instantly into deliberate ad hominem attacks against the public. Such attacks were always leveled from the Commish side of things.

Nothing stymies seeking middle ground faster than making it unsafe to talk or engage in discussion!
In my experience, the current Commishes have been all to willing to “shoot the messenger” first before listening to the message.

IMO, such habits do not serve anyone well who serves in the public arena. The net result has been an increasingly insular commission which has become isolated and out of touch.

FACT: In 2014 the current Commishes entered into a written settlement agreement which was literally signed by all parties, three attorneys and a retired judge.
Since that time the Commishes have refused to honor that agreement, with one Commish showing signs of active amnesia regarding the entire matter.

The upshot of the temperament of the BOCC has been to leave long term litigation at taxpayer expense the only option left in settling disputes with them.

All to often outside counsel has had to be retained due to conflicts of interest within the county owned legal pool of the Prosecutors office. The net result of this fact has been the retention of the most expensive type of legal representation available in our area. The Hidden Hollow Energy complaint is now literally four pages long on the repository!

Any costs or fees billed by these outside counsel providers is reviewed and approved by the Prosecutor’s office and then sent with express instructions to the Treasurer to present these bills to the BOCC for payment approval.

Final payment by the Commishes occurs 100% of the time without any real questions being asked.
The Guardian has reported a number of times the hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees associated with litigation occasioned by the current crop of Commishes. Dave: Do you have a current legal costs for the wrongful dismissal action with Rich Wright?

The way the county system of checks and balances currently works, the fox is literally guarding the proverbial taxpayer henhouse. By the time any costs or fees reach the Commishes for approval of payment, the belief is that these costs have been properly vetted by staff. Really!? What attorney will ever complain to another attorney that his or her fees are too high? Answer: Slim to none.
No one sees the ebb and flow of taxpayer dollars better than the Treasurer’s office of any city or county. A steady diet of presenting bills to be paid is part of any Treasurer’s job description which tends to leave the appearance that this department is somehow tacitly responsible for the production of these expenditures. Nothing could be farther from the truth.

As a practical matter the work which must be done by the Treasurer’s office is unavoidable and unrelenting. The job has to get done regardless of the fact that certain Commission decisions have reduced the available work force and left the same amount of work load for those remaining.

I sense that all of these factors have conspired to create a toxic work atmosphere for all involved. The current potential bad acts of two county employees might be as a result of this overall dysfunction between departments, but it is never appropriate to lay blame in just one place for such a complicated and ongoing issue.

The only motivation left for the rank and file employees can be summed up in this memo: “To all employees, the whippings will continue until moral improves.”

For all of the reasons above I have concluded that Ms. McIntire’s job responsibilities have been made unduly difficult by the management style of the Commission.

It has been said that “referee often only sees the second foul”. At this point in time it is difficult to quantify who fouled who first, or whether any particular action was initial or retaliatory in nature. Solving any problem first requires determining what the problem is and what created it.

IMO, in this Case the DNA of this dysfunction may likely be found within lack of problem solving capacities of the personalities involved.
Election time is the only time when the taxpayer can hold their public officials accountable for their job performance.

Electing new commissioners would be a great place to start!
The primary is May 17th. Get out and vote. As a practical matter it will be our general election for BOCC slots.

Otherwise I think we are looking at another few years of the same dysfunction in Ada County government.

@ Aggrieved:

Thanks for your insight and comments